The government guidelines in the US were ... severely lacking, to be overly nice.
You can take off your mask to eat, you can take off your mask to drink, cotton masks are sufficient (I will give them this one, especially during the extreme supply shortage at the start), kids don't have to wear masks because kids can't get sick (they can, and they spread it), you can wear any kind of face covering including ones completely open at the bottom like a triangular bandana or overly breathable and doesn't block much like a gaiter, you don't have to isolate and also no sick pay, thus incentivising actively sick and spreading people back to work, etc.
You can take off your mask to eat, you can take off your mask to drink, cotton masks are sufficient (I will give them this one, especially during the extreme supply shortage at the start), kids don't have to wear masks because kids can't get sick (they can, and they spread it), you can wear any kind of face covering including ones completely open at the bottom like a triangular bandana or overly breathable and doesn't block much like a gaiter, you don't have to isolate and also no sick pay, thus incentivising actively sick and spreading people back to work, etc.